Thorn

His argument boils down to Quebec has always had 25% of the seats and so it should continue to do so no matter what their population percentage. That's not an argument based on a complex understanding of electoral justice. What your answer boils down to is that you don't care if your province gets screwed over if it pleases Quebec. I wonder if the people considering voting NDP in BC, Alberta and Ontario will feel the same. Because if I was a Tory candidate come next election you can bet I'd bring that up repeatedly if the NDP was my main opponent.

Hmmmm. You support the public's right to protest, but even if they do it peacefully you enjoy watching them being beaten and tear gassed. Have I got that pretty much right?

Whether you personally, or your firm, due to local conditions or the type of employment involved get more vacations really is irrelevant given that Canadians as a whole don't share in that wealth. Canadians take fewer vacation times than almost anyone in the world. Well, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business has pretty consistently opposed unions, union dues, pensions, extra holidays and vacations.

It's a done deal thanks to the Tory majority, but the NDP have to continue to make their case, stridently, in fact, that the people of BC, Alberta and Ontario should continue to be underrepresented in the House of Commons so as to not offend Quebec. I can see this playing well in Quebec, of course, were selfishness is the 'national' sport, but I can't help wondering what NDP supporters in BC, Alberta and Ontario think of this. How do you explain to your neighbors that they don't deserve extra seats just because their population has grown so much? How do you tell local voters, when the seats are in place, that they ought to vote for you when the position of your party is that those seats should not exist because Quebec won't like them? I mean, the NDP are making it patently clear that they'll put the interests of Quebec's naval gazing whiners ahead of the interests of Albertans, British Columbians and Ontarions, so why would anyone in those provinces vote for them? The reality today is that 61% of Canadians are underrepresented in the House of Commons." And all 61% live in the country's three richest provinces. In fact, according to Mowat Centre research, Alberta, B.C. and Ontario are so underrepresented that they are among the five worst-represented states or provinces in the industrialized world. National Post

Canada has a legislated mandatory vacation period of two weeks. That is, all employers must grant their full-time employees a minimum of ten days of paid vacation per calender year. That is just about the lowest in the civilized world, and there are studies which seem to show that contrary to popular belief this does not lead to higher productivity, but lower. Why can the people of Australia and Brazil, the people of France, Germany and Lithuania enjoy 4, 5 or even 6 weeks of paid annual vacation a week without their economies collapsing? Btw, popular sentiment among business is to attack anyone who has more than 2 weeks, especially government unions, but also unions in general, and to demand those vacation rights be cut back. A Middle Eastern store clerk in the Annex, who used to live in France, said it best. "There is no life here. People only work, and for little in return." We work, they play

I find it pretty odd that someone who is championing free speech and expression is suddenly saying that when the opinion being expressed is unpopular that those people ought to be beaten by the public and arrested. The only consequence to freely expressing an unpopular opinion ought to be that people disagree with that opinion, and maybe think the worse of you for having it.

Sure. As long as they don't block the roads.

As far as I'm aware, all the official marches moved on the designated routes. The major notable group which moved off down an unaproved route would be the idiots who moved off to riot, and who the police left completely alone to do their business.

Just because the TO cops acted like morons doesn't mean you can just set up shop in the middle of a road without notice. That just makes violence more likely. They weren't entitled to express themselves on a major freeway. There are a lot of ethnic groups in Canada with a lot of international concerns, many of which the rest of us don't share. The aim of this group wasn't so much free expression, or they could have done that at Queens Park. Their aim was to force people to pay attention, which is an entirely different thing, by blocking a major freeway and stopping traffic. No, they should have been arrested.

So because 200 punks broke some windows across town it's acceptable for the police to go on a rampage and attack other demonstrers wherever they are, even the next day?

It shouldn't be, and the Tamils ought to have been arrested. But the demos during the G20 were organized with the assistance of police, and were going down roads which were approved ahead of time by the police for demonstrations. Not to mention, the 'free speech zone' the police themselves established for people to protest, and where they wound up beating and arresting people anyway.

Probably, but so will oil and gas, and they've been heavily beaten down the last couple of months.

Buy something which has been moving steadily upwards for weeks, based largely on fear? No thanks. Let me know when it's been moving steadily downward for weeks.

Perhaps Americans realize we generally select strong, intelligent leaders, whereas those Canadians you speak of are frustrated at the series of dolts and misfits you keep putting into the White House and would like to help...

Given the quality of the people you elect lately that's definitely a good thing. Nixon ---- crook Carter --- well meaning fool Raygun --- moron Bush --- weasel Clinton--- degenerate AND crook bush --- moron Obama --- well meaning fool Perry? --- moron

You knew what he meant. You were just being anal.

I don't really count the likes of Nazis as being on the political spectrum as they really have no ideas or political ideology other than a hate of minority groups and Jews. So to me, someone like Rich Perry, who calls a prayer session to save the economy, talks about secession over taxes and calls the fed chairman a traitor seems to be kind of a wack job. He is, as I understand it, not very bright, and clearly knows nothing about economics. He articulates the rage of the ignorant, the indignation of people who don't understand why the world isn't working to their satisfaction, and the only thing he seems to have going for him is he looks good in a suit.

I'm not sure how well you can asses the rental value of a detached house since there aren't a whole lot of them out there for rent at any given time in good neighborhoods. But I had a skim through an online site offering rental houses and find that to get a house like mine in town I'd probably have to pay something like $2,000 a month. So my place probably is about 14 x annual rent. People talking about rent of $850 or $1000 a month are talking about apartments, and a fair comparison would be equivalent housing.

If a governmental body is going to hold a trial which can impose punishments in the tens of thousands of dollars then the person on trial needs to be provided with free legal services and the neutrality of the body and judge involved need to be unquestioned. The HRCs are kangaroo courts which provide legal help only to the complainant and are often staffed by biased people who are poorly trained and inclined to find prejudice anywhere the subject is raised.

That was then, this is now. No character like Archie Bunker would be approved for mainstream TV today unless he was depicted as irredeemably evil.

I was reading this and confirming to myself that there are levels of stupidity to the system. For example, at the bottom fo the pack come human rights commission tribunals, and then slightly above them, immigration review boards. Anyway, in the case below it notes how a federal court threw out the order to release a criminal immigrant, but the part which made me shake my head is that this vermin has been in Canada for ten years, and only now are we moving to get rid of him. And of course, the following: Sako has already seen the generosity of Canada’s judicial system. Despite his repeated convictions while on probation, his escalation into violence and his failure to comply with court orders his sentences remained modest: 15 days for assault with a weapon; 30 days for his third conviction for credit card theft and three months for his latest assault causing bodily harm. Of course, the anal will say the judge doesn't let people out of jail, while the practical will point out that judges who routinely hand out slaps on the wrist might as well be doing so. Court blocks release of criminal immigrant

No, I want to redesign the system and law to make most lawyers obsolete and unnecessary. They are a huge waste of money to our economy and contribute NOTHING.

Aircraft carriers are used to project power abroad, well away from your shores. They're not used for protecting your shores. Land based aircraft are far better at that, and we don't even have enough money to buy enough planes to equip three carriers anyway.

My family rented all my life, and I rented into my thirties. They were your average, middle-class townhouses and apartments. In other words, they were bland and crappy boxes. My last rental was an unremarkable 3br apartment at $1100 a month. I bought a bungalow for $200k which has class and character, and a large back yard. I planted trees and a long cedar hedge which is now going on fifteen feet all around the yard. I have a pool, a deck, and a gorgeous neighborhood which is quiet and peaceful. No more cop cars showing up, no more fire alarms going off, no more buses going up and down the street. Want to know my first odd moment after I bought the place? When I realized I didn't have to paint things the same neutral colours as had existed in all the apartments and houses I'd lived in to that point in time. I could paint the rooms whatever the hell damned colour I wanted to. Didn't like the light fixtures? Replace them with those I do like! Want to rip out the bathroom and redo it? Sure! I did just that! It's a different lifestyle, and that's worth a hell of a lot more than a few bucks more when you're old and gray. Btw, I gave a down payment of about $75k. That was money which had been in stocks and bonds, and I took it out of the stock market a year before there was a huge fall. My house is now valued at about $350k, and I don't regret a thing.

I'm not a fan of Obama, but I think he will be re-elected simply because all the Republicans in the running to oppose him appear to be wack jobs from the far fringes of the far right.